What mother has not said, “How many times do I have to tell you . . . .” and wondered if that child would ever learn to do or not do what she was saying? It is part of growing up. Repetition is needed because we forget, or we want to do our own thing.
I forget too. In going through several years of writing that includes everything from poetry, how-to articles, Bible study lessons, essays, fiction and nonfiction, I’m amazed at how some pieces are good but I don’t remember writing them. This includes spiritual lessons. I wrote much that God taught me and I should have remembered but it went in my ear and out my pen without making much difference in my life because I forgot it.
In Deuteronomy, Moses repeated the history of God’s people from the exodus to their entrance into the promised land. He knew they would forget the lessons God was teaching them just as God knew the same would happen with generations of believers. We need to continual reminders!
He even rehashed the Ten Commandments and poked my memory. They cover every sin but some are not as easy to apply, particularly the first one about having no other gods. Recognizing idols is not as easy as realizing blasphemy, failure to keep the Sabbath, dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying and envy.
Some define idols as that what we think about all day. Others say idols are what we rely on to make us feel good, or happy, or satisfied. I’m not sure that second definition is legit. For instance, a friend adores a well-known singer. She recently celebrated her 90th birthday and her daughter arranged to have that international recording artist give her a phone call and wish her happy birthday. She was ecstatic yet this ‘idol’ will never replace Jesus in her life. She loves the Lord with all her heart even though that singer makes her feel great delight.
I’m more convicted by the idea that my idol is what I think about all day, particularly on those days when I DON’T think about the Lord very much or those days when the thoughts that He gives me in the morning are forgotten by noon.
The writer of Psalm 88 is not like that. His discouraging psalm starts with despair and ends even more gloomy. He says, “O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry!” (Psalm 88:1–2) At least this psalmist is honest even though his troubles are overwhelming, he knows where to go with his problems. He is thinking about God and has no idols.
Neither does the prophet Isaiah. He sees the world in a mess, as we do these days, but he knows where to turn and what to remember:
O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble . . . . The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure . . . . For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver; the Lord is our king; he will save us.” (Isaiah 33:2; 5-6; 22)
But not all the people of God put Him first in their lives. Every hour I forget Him to do my own thing, I am violating the new life of Christ He gave me. No one is saved by keeping His commandments, but those who are saved are given a renewed heart that responds to Him with love, a love that wants to do His will. Yet I forget.
Not only that, the human heart swings to extremes. In Revelation the Lord speaks to three churches. One is cold. One is hot. The third is not dead but without zeal.
Jesus tells the dead church to wake up and repent. He commends the church on fire to hold fast, but His words to the third church reveals how blind they are to their idolatry and how they thought they were doing well:
“Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. (Revelation 3:16–19)
APPLY: Confess my forgetfulness for what it is — a lack of deep love for my God. Do whatever it takes to keep His truth before me, in my thoughts, words and actions. Shove aside anything that does not conform to the will of God lest it becomes an idol and makes me forget what the Lord says to me.
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